Off to TAM…

After the annoying kerfuffle that erupted last night over our Seed Overlords’ most unfortunate decision to let a corporate blog breach the firewall between content and advertising, it’s a good thing that I can go and hang out with fellow skeptics, chill, and think about things a few days. Yes, I’m going to TAM8. By the time this posts, hopefully I’ll be in the air on my way to Vegas to hang with around 1,000 skeptical rogues, give a talk at the Science-Based Medicine workshop, and participate in a panel discussion.

A perfect antidote for what’s going on at Sb. Who else is going? Don’t forget to say hi. Just approach me quietly and carefully. I scare easy these days. 🙂

The brand is irreversibly corrupted. Your excellent work deserves better.

I do not believe that critical blogs can be used to make money. You have to choose between independence and cash. The whole virtue of blogs is their independence. If they lose that, they won’t get read.

Damn shame they’re not live streaming TAM this year like they did last year. The video stream last year was watched by hundreds of people, man this year promised to be even more awesome. If you get a chance please ask DJ Grothe or Randi about this oversight.

“‘The pump’ has been replaced and is fine. The warning light keeps coming on but we’re gonna ignore it. The loud noise like someone is trying to saw through the hull will go on thoughout the flight. It is perfectly normal and nothing to worry about.

Since Orac is going to be gone, and things could be slow, let me hijack this post to throw out a funny supplement burn anecdote I heard this morning.

I was listening to Dr. Fred Feit, who is a cardiologist at NYU, on Dr Radio (satellite XM 119, Sirius 114), and he had another cardiologist on. A woman calls and says she is taking I don’t all remember what, but it was like niacin and flaxseed oil, and something else. Well, after talking to her for a while, they basically told her that given her lipid profile, those were absolutely not worth taking at all, because the known effects of those things (and they do have their uses) are not appropriate given her status. The best part was when they asked, “How’s your diet, and how much exercise do you get?”

What? Doctors asking about things like diet and exercise? I thought that doctors ignored stuff like that and only wanted to give pills? Yet, here is this woman who is taking all these supplements and the doctors tell her to STOP and exercise instead! Burn!

I just had to laugh at it.

I’m not always a fan of Fred Feit, but he comes up with some good ones. He is very adamant about supplements and evidence, and comments regularly about studies of them. One of his common themes right now is how it has been a very bad year for vitamins. Lots of studies have come out on the efficacy of vitamin supplements, and they are all coming up empty. The most recent was apparently a study of vitamin E which showed no benefits.

Pablo: “What? Doctors asking about things like diet and exercise? I thought that doctors ignored stuff like that and only wanted to give pills? Yet, here is this woman who is taking all these supplements and the doctors tell her to STOP and exercise instead! Burn!”

Asking about it is one thing. Actually knowing about it and practicing it is another. Pretty much all doctors give the standard lip service about diet and exercise. But in the end they give chemicals instead. Every …single…day. Apparently not many doctors are very good change agents. In fact most are enablers.

I can totally understand why TAM is in LV, but Las Vegas _in July_? I spent 3 hrs. there at the airport in late June in ’06 or ’07 : it was 100 degrees F. at 11 pm.!!! (not that Metro NY has been exactly pleasant these past few days).

Thinking about getting tickets to TAM London. Bit pricey though…
Oh and I just read a small piece by J Mercola on HuffPo regarding sweeteners and while Im not qualified to comment on its content it did have a bit of unintentional truth:
“This is deception at its finest: begin with a shred of truth, and then spin it to fit your own agenda. ”
Yikes Joe! Remind ya of someone?